WIREDGOV

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has laid its Annual Report and Accounts before parliament (on 16 December), for the period April 2023 – March 2024.

The year included the Ombudsman’s 50th anniversary, being created by the Local Government Act 1974, and the Ombudsman launching its first complaint handling code for local authorities.

The code will make good practice in complaint handling both clearer for authorities and help the public to know what to expect when they raise concerns with their council or care provider in England.

Also during 2023-24, an independent review of the Ombudsman concluded that the LGSCO provides outstanding service and is supremely efficient. But it does so, despite being underfunded.

The conclusions of the independent review were relevant in a year when the Ombudsman’s main challenge in 2023-24 was managing a significant increase in casework demand.

While the Ombudsman met its longer time targets for completing investigations, the increase in incoming cases made it more difficult for the Ombudsman to meet it’s 20 working day target for assessing cases for investigation.

Chief Executive and Accounting Officer, Nigel Ellis, said:

“It is a credit to our staff how we have performed in 2023-24, which has been excellent despite some challenges.

“The independent review of our service, which followed a process endorsed by Government, said we are a highly efficient Ombudsman scheme. We complete investigations promptly, we have highly professional and committed staff, and we are a leader in many areas of practice. 

“Yet at the same time, it also concluded with the major operational risk we have identified ourselves – that we are structurally underfunded, putting our ability to fulfil our full remit at risk.

“Being sufficiently funded would allow us to provide our full and vital service to the public in the face of increasing demand.”

In 2023-24, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman dealt with 18,305 cases. Of the 4,165 complaints in which it carried out a detailed investigation, the Ombudsman upheld 80% (3,349 in number).

It also published a number of reports highlighting areas of concern, including how councils manage complaints about antisocial behaviour and how families of children with special educational needs and disabilities are sometimes not given sufficient choice in the support they receive due to councils’ poor understanding of the personal budgets process.